Not nearly as good as anything Tool has done

[CallofCthulhu]

HOWEVER...........it is a damn good song, we'll see how the rest of the album holds up......................not as good as anything Tool has ever done though

[Frances]

it's the best opening tool track yet..

[peterpiper]

HOWEVER...........it is a damn good song, we'll see how the rest of the album holds up

I disagree. It is a very sobering song. It is one that will take a long time to digest.

[CallofCthulhu]

it's the best opening tool track yet..

Personally I think The Grudge is the best, just has that opening, welcoming, calling sound to it, sets the mood, dont get that from Vicarious. All that I get is a commercial metal sound, thats just me though

[reverend resistor]

it's the best opening tool track yet..

Quoted for truth.

[babbletonic]

Better than The Grudge? Better than Stinkfist? Wow, I enjoy listening to Vicarious as much as the next fanatic....but shit...those are both pretty tough acts to live up to.

[CallofCthulhu]

Better than The Grudge? Better than Stinkfist? Wow, I enjoy listening to Vicarious as much as the next fanatic....but shit...those are both pretty tough acts to live up to.

120% agree. Whats with that "la la la la la lieeeeeeeeee" Come on Maynard............

ALSO, this was speculated to be their heaviest album to date...........after hearing the single...........I consider it their lightest.......................

[Scrunzset]

I fuckin' love the new track, but I gotta say............................................... ..
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...Stinkfist is still king album-opener. Sawry.

[zach5284]

vicarious sucks assssssssss. I hate it. I really do. It sucsks. bad. im sad and mad . and again it SSSSUUUUUCKKKKKSSSSS

[Havokb8]

I gotta say this song is fuckin awesome and it combines my favorite elements from all the albums.

It is too sick

that is all

[NoD]

I do think as far as album openers go, Stinkfist and The Grudge are > Vicarious. Vicarious is very crazy, almost system of a down like, very schizo. I mean, it blows other bands work way out of the water, but sometimes the complexity seems too forced. Tool has drifted away from the entrancing surreal metaphysical to the punishing complex pessimist...

[Briznitch]

120% agree. Whats with that "la la la la la lieeeeeeeeee" Come on Maynard............

ALSO, this was speculated to be their heaviest album to date...........after hearing the single...........I consider it their lightest.......................
I consider the la-la's to be badass. What, you want him whining about losing his girlfriend or something, emo stylie? You want him screaming just like every other metal band in existence? You want something that's the same as what you heard before? Come on and open your mind and take in this fucking beauty of a song. It's bad as hell.

[Frances]

the grudge was as good as vicarious up until "chooooooooooooose toooooooooooo.."

[Nebel]

They're all good. Try and stop comparing them and just take them for what they are.

[Frances]

oOo.. yessa massa..

[NoD]

the grudge was as good as vicarious up until "chooooooooooooose toooooooooooo.."

that is one of my favorite parts of the album actually

[RED_THE_HAT]

HOWEVER...........it is a damn good song, we'll see how the rest of the album holds up......................not as good as anything Tool has ever done though

I have had the song on repeat for nearly 8 hours now, and I am telling you. It grows. This is the most catching Tool song I have heard, the fact that it is different is what makes us want to hear more of the album.

[Frances]

that is one of my favorite parts of the album actually

yeah that part was great but after that, it's really just a build up the scream, which is just a show of technical ability really.. maynard can scream for 25 seconds.. awesome.. the ending was really good though..

[ARMZ]

and where may one acquire this new song?

[babbletonic]

that is one of my favorite parts of the album actually
I second that....

....and I will NOT stop comparing them! What else is there to do at 3:00 A.M.?

[redbox]

All that I get is a commercial metal sound, thats just me though

Agree.I knew that Vicarious will be fucking commercial track.

[paganman7]

HOWEVER...........it is a damn good song, we'll see how the rest of the album holds up......................not as good as anything Tool has ever done though



As ANYTHING Tool has done...really? There are certainly some Tool songs that are simply perfect, but vicarious is absolutely not the worst Tool has produced. In fact, upon the 10th or so listen, I think this song ranks up there with the likes of Lateralus, Opiate, 46 & 2, and Prison Sex...I completely love it!

I just have to disagree mate.

[The Let Down]

Stop comparing the fucking songs already. It's a piece of art, treat it as so. When you look at paintings, you don't compare/contrast one artist painting to another, you admire it for the message it's conveying, to compare two totaly different messages is to misinterpt the meaning behind the songs completely.

[paganman7]

By the way, since when did the term "commercial" become so pejorative...you sound like emo snobs.

Tool music is not as esoteric as some would like to believe...they are a prog-metal band with an enormous fan base...you are not the only people to "get" Tool, so stop pretending that they need to cater to a small, specialized cohort of music fans.

[ARMZ]

and where may one acquire this new song?
Rapidshare.

Rapidshare.
Cheers!

[Frances]

vicarious is better than..all of opiate.. all of undertow.. even Flood.. especially Bottom..most of Lateralus, save Lateralus, Diretri, Schism (maybe).. all of Aenima, save Third Eye, Pushit, Jimmy, Aenema, and H.. this album will be similar to a hellbent Theory of Relativity nut reading Schrodinger's cat.. abrupt and raging transformation..

[ProdigyDub]

HOWEVER...........it is a damn good song, we'll see how the rest of the album holds up......................not as good as anything Tool has ever done though

You're just fucking bitter cause all your blind skepticism about everything regarding the album turned out to be totally unwarranted.

[Mongeese]

Vicarious is the number one album opener for me, but Stinkfist comes a close second, then it goes:
Intolerance
The Grudge
Sweat

I'll probably get a comment about The Grudge, but I really think it's not one of Tool's strong songs, and it feels too strung out for me, it's a cool idea, and hooks you in at first, but then it just stretches far too long until it gets to the scream, which is fucking amazing, but before then, I'm yawning.

And Sweat just sucks.

[paganman7]

The same people who are complaining about Vicarious today will be the same exact people who will be licking Maynard's balls tomorrow...curious.

[tDoXoMl]

Stop comparing the fucking songs already. It's a piece of art, treat it as so. When you look at paintings, you don't compare/contrast one artist painting to another, you admire it for the message it's conveying, to compare two totaly different messages is to misinterpt the meaning behind the songs completely.


that sounded kinda smart

im a deep thinker now.

[Nebel]

I do think as far as album openers go, Stinkfist and The Grudge are > Vicarious. Vicarious is very crazy, almost system of a down like, very schizo. I mean, it blows other bands work way out of the water, but sometimes the complexity seems too forced. Tool has drifted away from the entrancing surreal metaphysical to the punishing complex pessimist...

I think there will be some of that on this album judging from reviews.

[Gajarigon]

sometimes the complexity seems too forced.

Yeah, the ending does.

[chonus]

yeah that part was great but after that, it's really just a build up the scream, which is just a show of technical ability really.. maynard can scream for 25 seconds.. awesome.. the ending was really good though..


...and you can write mediocre posts, awesome.

[chongi]

I don't know, I'm disappointed. This song is kind of... predictable.

[Frances]

i've heard the ending riff of this song in a few tool ripoffs.. and inevitably played it myself.. it was bound to happen at some point, just like the opening riff to The Grudge and the palm-muted pre-chorus chugging on Lateralus.. adam hasn't changed but he's gotten better at being himself..

[chonus]

Frances The Douche, why oh why must you be so unsatisfied?

[ljasonl]

I have had the song on repeat for nearly 8 hours now, and I am telling you. It grows.

No lie.
I've been listening to it for about 4 hours now
At first I thought it was average tool (which is pretty good in it's own right)
By now it's one of my favorites

[babbletonic]

No lie.
I've been listening to it for about 4 hours now
At first I thought it was average tool (which is pretty good in it's own right)
By now it's one of my favorites

And I guess I have to agree with both of you.

I couldn't go to sleep because I had this damn song running through my head...so now it's edging closer to 5:00 am and I still need to listen to this song.....on repeat...truly amazing...especially considering during my first few listens I wasn't very impressed

[RosettaStoned]

CONCLUSION
TURN OFF YOUR FUCKING TV

It will be on tv, and there will be a lot of hookers with a penis enjoying it. ;(



BUT FUCK IT
IT's A DAMN GOOD SONG. On Repeat (for 2 hours)

[Frances]

repeat for 3

[Nebel]

I think that's the case with any Tool song I hear, I can never really make of a song on it's first few listens, it's too much to take in. After several listens it comes to me all of a sudden. If I like it, I like it.

[otb]

At first I thought it was average tool (which is pretty good in it's own right)
By now it's one of my favorites

Quoted for agreement.

[Frances]

i really love this track.. and i haven't even heard it on high volume.. people are sleeping.. i must see it live.. oo live this would be such a great track..

[The Let Down]

you know we live in a world now where society was supposed to have advanced in intelligence, yet I have to ask myself the question, if Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd and Tool switched time periods, I have serious doubts that their fans would have sit on message boards going:

Well guys, Black Dog fucking sucks. As far as album openers go, Whole Lotta Love & Custard Pie > Black Dog.

They're both equally great. just love the fucking music. all this other opinonated sutff is bullshit. tool didn't create the music for you to compare which songs are better then the others. if you haven't realized that by now then i have to question if listening to tool has enlightened you or not.

[Frances]

tool weren't afraid to be themselves and say what they wanted to say.. and play what they wanted to play.. i think that it was different with Lateralus..

[ison04]

not sure what to make of it. gonna try to pen a review when i get home. peace

[A Tad Bit Catatonic]

I'm blown away, that is all I can say...

And yeah it's different. Anybody not enjoying it at first listen, give it about 10 and it will probably grow on you. And if not, well you don't know what good music is =). Anyway, I fucking love it. It's More than I was expecting. Stop comparing it, just listen.

[Carbonatedgravy]

Can't tell how great an album opener this is until I hear the whole album. If this really is setting the mood that it seems to be, it's incredible. What I found interesting about it was the fact that it didn't have a little opening sound/delay like the rest of the album openers. Which I actually kind of liked. All that stuff was fine, but when this one just shot straight into the song I was a bit shocked.

But if the rest of the album is highly personal and intimate, this won't make a bit of sense as an album opener.

[Thanatopsis]

I'm blown away, that is all I can say...

And yeah it's different. Anybody not enjoying it at first listen, give it about 10 and it will probably grow on you. And if not, well you don't know what good music is =). Anyway, I fucking love it. It's More than I was expecting. Stop comparing it, just listen.
My feelings exactly. I have to admit, I didn't like Stinkfirst the first 20 times I heard it. I fell in love with Vicarious the second time though. 9 hours, and a few joints later its still playing on repeat. I know i'm not the only one out there doing this.

[CallofCthulhu]

I really really like the ending, the last lines of Maynard, really kick ass. My expectations were really high for the album being heavy as fuck because everyone was saying "MESHUGGAH INFLUENCE" all over the place. Again, its only one song. It's slowly growing on me. I will say though, I can tell the album has no Dark Side/Lateralus flow to it, moreso another Aenima than Lateralus..........of course we've known for months that this isn't Lateralus II..........

[Sea of Lies]

Doesn't even come close to Stinkfist as an opening song... and being the single as well...

But it's good, the problem is that tool traced something with aenima-lateralus and we all were waiting something not as "raw", but it's tool anyways, and is a great song, a great teaser for the album... and after reading kabir's review about how Wings for Marie and 10,000 days are like Third Eye, i don't need anything else

[new millenium cyanide christ]

And Sweat just sucks.


imbecile

[new millenium cyanide christ]

it's the best opening tool track yet..\


lmao...

wow...

gots to be kidddding....

[dekard49]

Wow. Theres a lot of people calling Vicarious the best album opener. Dont you think thats a bit mad since no one has heard the rest of the album for context yet?

My personal favourite is "The Grudge." I think it has the best "effect into" (i see it like a industrial lift raising a spacecraft up for takeoff), I think it has the best opening vocal, that percussive chanting "WEAR THE GRUDGE LIKE A CROWN!" It has the vocal interacting with the guitar (when he sings "humbled again" it mixes right in with the guitar) - and of the course, the scream :)

[Nate-dogg21]

Can't tell how great an album opener this is until I hear the whole album. If this really is setting the mood that it seems to be, it's incredible. What I found interesting about it was the fact that it didn't have a little opening sound/delay like the rest of the album openers. Which I actually kind of liked. All that stuff was fine, but when this one just shot straight into the song I was a bit shocked.

But if the rest of the album is highly personal and intimate, this won't make a bit of sense as an album opener.



I completely agree with this. Im sure you guys dont even remember how you felt the first time you heard /stinkfist/thegrudge/intolerence/ - how did you feel about those?

I remember the first time i listened to the grudge i was like "eh, this isnt as good as aenima, this cd is going to disappoint me" Like musically, it was insane, but it just didnt seem like it was at the same level as Aenima. This song(vicarious), i love right off the bat. I really like the deep stuff tool rights about, and the trippy psychadellic riffs they play, so for that, this song isnt really satisfying. But, i personally think that when you all hear the entire CD, let it digest and understand it and what tool is trying to say, then you will have a new found appreciation for this song.

[weak&weary]

Whats with that "la la la la la lieeeeeeeeee"
Well, the song itself is about desensitization, almost like the "doublethink" concept in 1984 of lying to yourself, beleiving and needing things while turning an ambivalent eye "while the whole world dies."

I think the "la la la"-ing is sort of a distraction to veil the word "lie" at the end... which is an important thing to bring out, because these types of people who feel nothing but apathy are just lying to themselves... ignoring what they know is there, focusing on something else, living vicariously while the whole world dies.